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-Novavax raised its full-year adjusted revenue forecast on Wednesday, betting on the strength of vaccine supply partnerships, including with Serum Institute of India and Japan's Takeda, sending its shares surging 15%. The biotech has been shifting its focus to commercializing vaccine candidates through partnerships. It relies on revenue from its licensing deal with French drugmaker Sanofi and vaccines in development, including a COVID-flu combination shot and for bird flu that is currently undergoing lab testing. Novavax had licensed the rights for its COVID-19 shot, Nuvaxovid — also its sole commercial product — to Sanofi in an up to $1.2 billion deal last year. The company expects its 2025 adjusted revenue to be between $1 billion and $1.05 billion, up from $975 million to $1.03 billion forecast earlier. This excludes Sanofi sales and royalties. Novavax also beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter revenue, driven by a $175 million milestone payment related to the U.S. approval of Nuvaxovid in May. It plans to start a post-marketing study on Nuvaxovid by the end of the year, and estimates that to cost between $70 million and $90 million. The company expects Sanofi to reimburse about 70% of the costs, while it will absorb the rest. Novavax's traditional protein-based COVID-19...

Shares in Novo Nordisk rose as much as 14% on Thursday after trial data from Eli Lilly's experimental weight-loss pill fell short of expectations, boosting investor confidence in the Danish drugmaker's market-leading obesity treatment. The company later pared some gains and were trading up 9% at 1240GMT. The market had anticipated Eli Lilly's orforglipron pill to become a strong competitor to Novo's weight-loss drugs, Kepler Cheuvreux analyst David Evans said in an emailed comment. However, with Thursday's results falling short of those expectations, Evans said investors were likely to rethink the competitive outlook in the GLP-1 obesity drug market, a shift that favours Novo's oral semaglutide. Eli Lilly shares were down 7.8% premarket at 1152 GMT. The battle between injectables and oral GLP-1 drugs is shaping obesity treatments, as companies race to deliver the best mix of results and safety for patients. Novo's shares plunged last week after it slashed its outlook for 2025 sales growth, marking the second forecast cut for the Danish drugmaker this year. Lilly's weaker pill data helps restore investor confidence in Novo's obesity lead, easing fears of an imminent threat to Wegovy's dominance and pricing power, Nordnet analyst Per Hansen has said. Novo's domestic peer Zealand Pharma rose around 7% in afternoon...

Eli Lilly said on Thursday that its experimental GLP-1 pill helped patients lose 12.4% of their body weight in a late-stage study, but that was less than previous trial results for Novo Nordisk's injectable obesity treatment Wegovy, sending shares of the U.S. drugmaker tumbling. Lilly shares plunged nearly 15%, putting it on pace for its steepest single-day drop in 25 years and threatening to erase more than $100 billion in market value. The selloff was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 index, but Lilly remains the world's most valuable healthcare company. Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, said 12.4% weight loss was “still pretty good” and that the market was overreacting. Despite the selloff, he said he was confident Lilly could keep expanding its share of the weight-loss market. With the Lilly data failing to meet the high bar set by investors, U.S.-listed shares of Novo were up over 6%. "We're encouraged by these results," Lilly CEO David Ricks said on an investor call, adding that the company's goal had always been to deliver a powerful GLP-1 medicine in the convenience of a once-daily pill that could be more easily manufactured. We believe this can make a significant impact on human...

The new implant contains a reservoir of glucagon that sits beneath the skin and can be activated in an emergency, with no need for injections. For individuals with Type 1 diabetes, the risk of hypoglycemia, dangerously low blood sugar, is a constant concern. When glucose levels drop too far, the condition becomes life-threatening and typically requires an injection of the hormone glucagon as the standard treatment. To address situations where patients may be unaware that their blood sugar is falling to critical levels, MIT engineers have developed an implantable device that holds a supply of glucagon beneath the skin. This device can be activated to release the hormone automatically when glucose drops too low. The system could be especially useful during nighttime hypoglycemia or for young children with diabetes who may not be able to self-administer an injection. “This is a small, emergency-event device that can be placed under the skin, where it is ready to act if the patient’s blood sugar drops too low,” says Daniel Anderson, a professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, and a member of both the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). “Our goal was to build a...

Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab said on Wednesday it will sharpen its commercial focus and reduce costs, after a major profit warning and new CEO announcement last week wiped some $95 billion of value from the company's stock. The Danish drugmaker, which boomed to become Europe's most valuable firm worth some $650 billion last year on the back of sales of its blockbuster weight-loss drug, is facing a pivotal moment as it battles rising competition that is denting sales. The company repeated its full-year guidance, days after slashing its 2025 sales outlook and replacing CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen with veteran insider Maziar Mike Doustdar. Its market cap has fallen since peak to some $212 billion. "We are taking measures to sharpen our commercial execution further, and ensure efficiencies in our cost base while continuing to invest in future growth," outgoing CEO Jorgensen said in a statement. Doustdar will take the helm on Thursday, with the firm facing tough questions from investors about how it can stay competitive in the booming weight-loss drug market against U.S. rival Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab and a wave of compounded copycat versions. Novo has been hit by copycats of its GLP-1 drugs Wegovy for weight-loss...

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) on Friday topped Street forecasts with its Q2 financials, thanks mainly to U.S. sales for its newly developed high-dose version of its blockbuster eye care therapy Eylea, marketed with Bayer (OTCPK:BAYZF). The Tarrytown, New York-based pharma giant recorded $3.7B in revenue for the quarter, exceeding the consensus by $400M even as sales from its standard Eylea therapy plunged ~39% to $754M in the U.S. amid competitive headwinds. However, Eylea HD sales surged ~29% YoY to $393M thanks to higher sales volumes driven by increased uptake, while total Eylea sales fell ~25% YoY to $1.1B in the U.S. Globally, Eylea HD sales reached $634.9M with ~78% YoY growth, and Eylea sales fell ~28% YoY to $1.5B while REGN’s skin cancer therapy Libtayo added $376.5M to the topline with ~27% YoY growth. "Regeneron had a strong quarter, marked by significant growth in U.S. sales of EYLEA HD and global sales of Dupixent and Libtayo, along with multiple regulatory approvals," CEO Leonard Schleifer remarked. Meanwhile, REGN’s collaboration revenue climbed ~22% YoY to $1.9B, driven by its Sanofi (SNY) collaboration, which added $1.4B to the topline with ~26% YoY growth, mainly due to higher profits attributed to increased sales for its asthma therapy Dupixent, marketed...

India's Torrent Pharma (TORP.NS), opens new tab reported a 20% jump in its first-quarter profit on Monday, driven by demand for drugs used to treat long-term conditions. The firm's consolidated net profit rose to 5.48 billion rupees ($63.2 million) for the quarter ended June 30, from 4.57 billion rupees year ago. Torrent Pharma, which makes drugs for treating conditions such as diabetes, infections, and cancer, continued to benefit from strong domestic demand for these medicines. Revenue from India, which contributed around 56% to the total, jumped 11% from a year earlier. This was led by strong demand for Torrent's therapies such as cardiovascular, gastro-intestinal and anti-infectives. Diabetes, which is one of Torrent's key therapy areas, led demand in the Indian pharmaceutical market, which grew 8% in June, according to data from India Ratings and Research.

Novo Nordisk expects continued competition from copycat versions of its blockbuster Wegovy obesity drug this year and could face layoffs as it battles rising pressure from main U.S. rival Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab, the Danish drugmaker warned on Wednesday. Novo (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab, which became Europe's most valuable company worth $650 billion last year on booming sales of Wegovy, is facing a pivotal moment as the medicine loses market share and sees sales growth slow, especially in the United States. It has warned of far slower growth this year - in part due to compounders who have been allowed to make copycat medicines based on the same ingredients as Wegovy due to shortages. Novo cut its full-year sales and profit forecasts last week, wiping $95 billion off its market value since. The shares were down 3.4% at 1350 GMT. The slide is a huge and abrupt turnaround for the firm that has been one of the world's hottest investment stories, which led to a rapid expansion of manufacturing and sales capacity. Now the firm is eyeing potential cost-cutting measures. "We probably won't be able to avoid layoffs," outgoing CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told Danish broadcaster DR. "When you have to adjust...

-Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, India's largest drugmaker by revenue, reported a higher adjusted profit on Thursday, aided by strong domestic sales. The Mumbai-based firm's consolidated profit before tax and exceptional items rose 16.6% to 39.91 billion rupees ($455.6 million) in the quarter ended June 30. The drugmaker reported a one-time charge of 8.18 billion rupees in the first quarter related to the impairment of certain assets and the settlement of a legal dispute. Accounting for the charge, profit fell nearly 20% on-year. Total revenue grew 9.5% to 138.51 billion rupees, beating analysts' estimates of 136.51 billion rupees. The rise in revenue was supported by a 14% increase in sales in India, Sun Pharma's largest revenue-generating region. The firm has been focusing on strengthening its portfolio of innovative drugs in dermatology, oncology and obesity therapy areas as it targets mid-to-high single-digit percentage revenue growth in the current fiscal year. Sales from its high-margin global innovative segment, which includes drugs used to treat rare and complex chronic conditions such as hair loss and psoriasis, rose 16.9% and accounted for 19.3% of the total.

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab on Tuesday raised its full-year profit forecast on strong demand for its heart disease drug, Vyndaqel, and blood thinner, Eliquis, after its second-quarter results benefited from a weaker dollar. Pfizer said the new forecast includes a one-time charge of 20 cents per share related to its recent licensing deal with China's 3SBio (1530.HK), opens new tab for experimental cancer treatment. Shares of the New York-based company rose 2.8% to $24.19 in premarket trading. The drugmaker's results come as the pharmaceutical industry faces intense pressure from President Donald Trump's administration to lower drug prices, while preparing for 15% tariffs on imports from the European Union. Pfizer has said it has enough manufacturing capacity across its 10 sites in the United States to mitigate any impact from tariffs and is open to shifting some production to these existing facilities. Investors are also closely monitoring potential disruptions to Pfizer and other companies' vaccine portfolio from policy changes under RFK Jr., a known vaccine skeptic. Vaccines account for about 20% of Pfizer's revenues. Pfizer now expects to earn $2.90 to $3.10 per share on an adjusted basis in 2025, compared with its previous expectations of $2.80 to $3.00 per share. Total sales for...